Obadiah 1

Obadiah, the shortest book of the Old Testament, announces God’s judgment on Edom, the descendants of Esau, for pride and for cruelty toward their brother Israel when Jerusalem fell. It ends with the Day of the LORD, the restoration of God’s people, and the promise that the kingdom belongs to the LORD.

Obadiah 1:1

Obadiah receives a vision from the Lord GOD about Edom. A message goes out among the nations calling them to rise against her. God is the one behind the coming downfall, and the nations are his instruments.

BSA: vision (“a prophetic revelation, a divine message”): This is not Obadiah’s opinion but a message given to him by God.

Hebrew: חֲזוֹן (chazon, H2377) — “vision.” The word names something seen by a prophet, a revelation given from outside himself. The whole book carries God’s authority, not human judgment.

Obadiah 1:2

God promises to bring Edom low. A nation proud of its strength will be small and despised among the nations. What people trust in cannot protect them from the God who rules all peoples.

BSA: despised (“held in contempt, looked down on”): Edom would end up as an object of scorn, the very reverse of the honor she imagined for herself.

Obadiah 1:3-4

Edom lived in rocky mountain strongholds and felt untouchable. Her pride deceived her into thinking no one could bring her down. Even if she nested among the stars, God says he will bring her down from there.

BSA: pride (“arrogance, insolence”): Edom’s real danger was inward, an arrogant heart, not an outward enemy. deceived (“led astray, misled”): Pride lies to a person, making weakness look like safety.

See also: Proverbs 16:18; Jeremiah 49:16.

Obadiah 1:5-6

Even thieves leave something behind, and grape gatherers leave gleanings. Edom’s ruin will be far worse. Her hidden treasures, stored in mountain hideaways, will be searched out and stripped. Nothing will be left.

BSA: pillaged (“plundered, thoroughly ransacked”): The plundering would be complete, not partial like a thief’s.

Obadiah 1:7

Edom’s friends will turn on her. Allies, partners at peace, and even those who shared her table will betray her. The people she trusted most become her trap, and she does not see it coming.

BSA: allied (“those in covenant with you”): Even sworn partners would break faith with her. trap (“snare, net”): Betrayal is pictured as a hunter’s net set quietly for an unsuspecting animal.

Obadiah 1:8-9

Edom was famous for wisdom, and Teman was a leading city. Neither wise counsel nor mighty warriors will help. God will remove the very things Edom boasted in, and the whole mountain land will fall to slaughter.

BSA: terrified (“dismayed, completely broken”): Even the strongest soldiers will lose all courage.

See also: Jeremiah 49:7.

Obadiah 1:10

Here is the reason for judgment: violence against Edom’s own brother. Esau and Jacob were twins, so the sin was a betrayal of family. The shame will be total and permanent.

BSA: brother (“close relative, kin”): The wrong was worse because it was done to family who should have been defended.

See also: Genesis 25:24-26.

Obadiah 1:11

When foreign armies plundered Jerusalem, Edom stood by and did nothing. Standing aloof in a brother’s hour of need made her no better than the invaders. Failing to help can be a sin, not just a lack of kindness.

BSA: stood aloof (“at a distance, uninvolved”): Indifference is counted as taking the enemy’s side. cast lots (“threw small stones, made decisions by chance”): The conquerors divided the people and spoils as if they were property.

Obadiah 1:12

Obadiah names what Edom should not have done: gloat, rejoice, and boast. Taking pleasure in a relative’s suffering is sin. The repeated word ‘day’ shows how closely God watched that moment.

BSA: gloat (“rejoice with pride, look on with pleasure”): Edom enjoyed watching Judah’s fall rather than grieving over it.

See also: Proverbs 24:17-18.

Obadiah 1:13

Edom is rebuked three more times: entering the gate, gloating, and looting in the day of disaster. God calls Judah ‘My people.’ What was done to them was done in his sight, and he took it personally.

BSA: disaster (“calamity, or affliction”): The same word repeats three times, stressing how cruelly Edom chose the worst moment to act.

Obadiah 1:14

Edom even waited at the crossroads to catch refugees fleeing the city and handed survivors over to the enemy. Taking advantage of the helpless and blocking their escape is the lowest kind of cruelty.

BSA: fugitives (“those trying to escape, survivors”): These were people who had barely escaped with their lives, and Edom cut off their only hope.

Obadiah 1:15

The Day of the LORD reaches beyond Edom to all nations. God’s justice is fitting: what Edom did will be done to her. The harm she planned comes back on her own head.

BSA: recompense (“reward, payment”): God’s judgment repays each person according to what they have done.

See also: Galatians 6:7; Isaiah 13:6.

Obadiah 1:16

Edom ‘drank’ in celebration on God’s holy mountain after Jerusalem fell. Now all the nations will drink a cup of judgment, and it will be endless. The picture of a cup shows God’s wrath poured out on those who oppose him.

BSA: drink (“feasting, indulging”): The celebrating of the wicked turns into the drinking of judgment.

See also: Jeremiah 25:15-16.

Obadiah 1:17

The mood turns to hope. On Mount Zion there will be deliverance. The place will be holy, and Jacob’s people will take back what is theirs. God has not abandoned his people, whatever they have suffered.

BSA: deliverance (“a place of escape, salvation”): Zion becomes a refuge where God’s people are rescued and kept safe.

Obadiah 1:18

Jacob and Joseph, meaning the southern and northern tribes together, will be like fire. Edom will be like dry stubble that cannot stand before it. The judgment is certain because the LORD himself has spoken.

BSA: stubble (“dry straw, worthless”): Edom’s strength will prove as flimsy as straw before a fire.

Obadiah 1:19-20

The returning exiles will spread out and possess the land: south, west, north and east, and even beyond. Those scattered abroad will come back and settle. God’s promise to give his people the land is fulfilled.

BSA: exiles (“captives, those taken away”): The people once carried off in defeat become those who take possession again.

Obadiah 1:21

The book ends with deliverers going up Zion to govern. The final line sums up the whole message: the kingdom belongs to the LORD. Pride and cruelty fall, and God alone reigns. Christians have long seen in this the hope of Christ’s kingdom.

BSA: deliverers (“saviours, rescuers”): God raises up rescuers to carry out his justice and protect his people.

See also: Revelation 11:15; Psalm 22:28.